So a few weeks ago I got an email from Klean Kanteen asking me to review their products. I left a poor review on their Cafe Lid. Today, I received the Cafe Cap 2.0.

I want to make a proper video review in a few days, but here's a little info about this new lid verses a few others, plus some initial thoughts.

Klean Kanteen Cafe Lid 1.0Hydro Flask Hydro Flip LidKlean Kanteen Cafe Lid 2.0I know Klean Kanteen states that their Cafe Lid (1.0) isn't leak-proof, but still, it's pretty silly. I supposed they designed it like they did because it's easier to clean. But, if my bottle falls over and I immediately pick it up, I don't expect to lose half of my coffee (that's $2.25 worth of coffee in San Francisco!).

That's why I bought the Hydro Flask Flip Lid. Super simple design, maybe even a little boring, but it works. You flip the lid, take a sip, and then flip it back down. Easy peasy. You can turn it upside down, and unless you pop open the flappy lid, you'll only get a few drops of liquid, and that's just from the liquid that collected on the outside of your lid.

The Cafe Lid 2.0 solves a lot of those problems. But it's big. And heavy. The original Cafe Lid weighs in at 35 grams. The Hydro Flask is a scoatch heavier at 39 grams. And then you have the new Cafe Lid. Look at that monster. It's 63 grams. That's half the weight of your phone! Why's it so heavy?

Because it's made of five (5!) pieces. I can handle the first four, but that fifth feels like bad design. It's a nut that locks the whole thing in place. I think I know what happened. Originally, the nut was molded into that fourth piece. But, since it's directly touching the silicone valve (the piece in the middle), it would work its way loose after all of the twisting you do to open and close your lid. So, they add a separate nut, which locks to the plastic via a ton of indents, and it stays put until you want to take it apart for cleaning.

The silicone valve is pretty bulky and heavy, coming in at 15 grams.

How it locks.

I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture, but these two indents are tiny ramps that really compress the silicone valve into the lid, covering the hole where the liquid comes out, as well as the tiny hole to let the air in when you drink. Feels like they only needed that valve to cover those two openings and could've figured out a way to save a few cents, not to mention grams.

Something that's not obvious from the pictures is the direction you twist the spinner to drink. The old Cafe Lid turned clockwise to open and counterclockwise to close. I think this is a natural motion for most people. You start with your hand and arm in a normal position, twist your wrist, and you're good. The newer lid is the opposite - counterclockwise to open, clockwise to close. It's awkward because if you start with the spout facing you, you have to either awkwardly twist your wrist or throw your elbow out to the side. So why the switch? Well, this new silicone valve gets smashed pretty tight when you twist the spinner at the top. So tight, in fact, that if you turned it counterclockwise to close, you would unscrew the lid every time. I'm sure they realized this in an early prototype and had to flip everything around, since it doesn't take as much torque to open.

This new lid costs $9.95, which is pretty steep for a lid. The nearly doubling in price is due to all of those extra pieces they had to make. Time will tell if it's worth the investment. I'm going to dig up my thermometer and do some temperature tests to see which lid holds heat the best. I'll toss the Wide Loop Cap into the mix.